


pride and joy

by tinysmallest



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Terminal Illnesses, because that's essentially what happened to rose, characters added as we reach them LETS GO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26021578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinysmallest/pseuds/tinysmallest
Summary: You find them at last. First her cub, then, through him, the others. They were hers, and she loved them.Now they are yours, too. And so you love them.
Relationships: Lion & Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Lion & Steven Universe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Rose

**Author's Note:**

> who's ready to be sad about _cats_

She disappeared from time to time. That had always been okay with you. You didn't know what she was, but she clearly wasn't meant to stay in one place. She was one of you without _being_ you, and you couldn't hold her to the same standards of being a cat when she wasn't one. You understood that she was different. That was all right. Whenever she left, she'd always come around again; it had been like that since you were a baby, as sure as the rising sun.

After you died, and her tears returned you to life, you realized that, truly, she was something else. Something beyond imagination. Beyond understanding. Your coat was now the same shade as her hair, and as you slowly learned all of the new things you could do, you came to know that she was not just beyond understanding now. You would probably _never_ fully understand the miracles she was capable of.

But you didn't really _need_ to fully understand her. As the others grew old and withered and died around you, she loved you. She loved you, and that was enough.

* * *

Generations came and went under her watchful eye. You never imagined you'd one day join her in caring for them, but here you were. And there was she.

She stroked your mane and brushed your fur and cooed to you. You didn't always know what she said--her tongue was strange--but you knew from her eyes and her voice that she loved you, and that was enough.

Even as the pride died around you, because as you began to realize, nothing lasts forever.

Except her, apparently, and maybe you now, as well.

* * *

Her returns became more frequent after the generations stopped turning and the last of them passed. She could disappear into your mane, a discovery made by accident one hot afternoon, and she made frequent trips into it to leave things there, but that was not the only reason she stopped by.

She came, often, just to cuddle you, and bring you sweet tasting things, and allow you to sleep on her. She watched you chase the gem lizards that had emerged in the desert and giggled at your hunting prowess.

You brought her the remains frequently. She didn't hunt! You would provide.

She never ate in front of you, but she would smile (one that looked oddly strained but still affectionate) and coo and stroke your mane.

One day she started to smell different. It confused you. You buried your nose into her hair and scented it as she giggled that it tickled.

She smelled frequently of something else, yes. Most often a salty, breezy smell. Something else that was incredibly sweet, something that closely lined up with her own scent that you could only assume might come from others of her kind or where they had once dwelled.

But this was different. This was new. Something musky, tangy, a bit sweet in a different way.

Someone else's scent, you realized.

No, not even just that.

This scent was tangled up with hers in a way that could only mean one thing.

This was not just anyone's scent.

This was the scent of a _mate._

You nuzzled the side of her head with a cry of joy and she laughed, throwing her arms around your neck. "What's gotten into you!?" she laughed. You understood her strange language enough to understand her now.

If only she could understand yours, so you could heap the congratulations on her that she deserved.

But for now, headbutts and nuzzles would have to do.

* * *

You didn't know exactly how much time later it was that her scent changed yet again. Time held little meaning for you. But it felt like many seasons so you hazarded a guess it was when she came to you one day with a brand new scent.

This one you knew instantly.

The noise you let out was nearly a roar and you almost tackled her before remembering gentleness was of the essence now more than ever. She shrieked with delight as you pressed your nose to her neck and trailed down to her belly.

They didn't even exist quite yet and you wanted to nuzzle them, groom them, curl around them and purr and never, ever let anything happen to them.

But curling up around her belly and nuzzling it was good enough for now, so you did, and she cooed the name she had for you with weepy affection and hugged you.

* * *

You had much work to do.

A den. She would need a suitable den. Somewhere safe and dark.

A nest. Somewhere soft for the birth.

Food. She would be hungrier than usual.

It thankfully wasn't hard to find a place. It was far cooler in there than the surrounding areas, and the vegetation from the nearby oasis provided all you needed to make a nest.

You couldn't wait to meet him.

* * *

She was crying.

When she next came it was with uncharacteristic silence. Something about her eyes and scent were wrong.

Her gaze looked out glassy along the landscape. She barely registered you drawing up alongside her.

Was she sick? She didn't smell sick. Anxiety overwhelmed you. You tugged her by the trailing soft stuff hanging off her body to the den; maybe getting her somewhere safe would help.

It did not. She stared at the little rock shelter, coming to a dead halt in front of it, and stared for a moment before she collapsed, weeping.

You hurried to comfort her, nuzzling and licking at her hair, purring. You tried kneading her lap. Nothing worked, not any of the old tried and true methods of making her smile. She threw her arms around you and wept words into your mane.

_Yes, I know, I know you're sad and scared but I wish I knew **why.**_

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,"_ she keened, and you didn't know what she had to be sorry about, you didn't understand the rush of words that poured forth from her, but something about the world felt much colder and darker.

She left as she'd come; silent, staring, empty.

And she was back far faster than usual, but with no changes. You didn't know what to do but stay by her side. She cradled your head in her hands and kissed your forehead, and used a funny, rectangle device to do... something. She aimed it at your face and it flashed, but nothing else happened, and she didn't do much for the rest of her stay that time, either. Mostly she just laid with you and stroked your mane.

She returned yet again far faster than usual. You didn't smell an improvement, but she was smiling and laughing again. She braided your mane like usual, and watched you hunt magic lizards, and fed you out of her hand. She brushed your coat, and cuddled you, and gave you kisses.

When she left this time it was with several pauses and lingering looks backwards, her soft goodbye in the air carried by the desert wind.

You wish you'd understood her words earlier, that first time she'd cried like these would be the last times you ever saw each other.

Maybe then you'd have known that it was.


	2. Steven

You knew who he was in an instant.

Originally you just wanted to watch over these strangers while they dealt with the sand-bender, but then you caught the scent on the wind, and it almost stopped your heart.

This was way more than you were expecting today.

To say he smelled just like her would be reductive. He definitely smelled like her in a way that could denote him as nobody else. There was that same intense sweetness- similar to the other strangers who had gone into the sand structure, but with her unique twist to it.

They would have to be sniffed over later.

Right now all that existed was him.

Though her scent radiated from him there was more than just that. There was a myriad of scents embedded in his skin- ones he recognized, even though they were difficult to pick out amongst each other, like looking at a smudged print in the sand and trying to guess what made it.

But twisted in with the sweetness, and underneath all the other smells, was something new and as deeply entangled. A fleshy scent which she always lacked. Something specific to just this being.

Himself.

Her cub.

He was all pudgy flailing arms and full of giggles. A round, soft belly and a big smile and little tics and movements like he couldn't sit still. Mostly hairless but for the mane on his head. It was curly, like hers.

You followed him home to protect him from the sand-bender that had plagued your home for ages, but you would have followed him home anyway.

You would have followed him anywhere.

You had so much to show him, so much time to make up for. He was afraid for you for all of thirty seconds before finding the courage to press his small, soft hand against your head. He climbed all over you and buried his face in your mane, cooing to you, and you melted. You would protect him from the sky falling, if it came to it.

As it were, you had to protect him from the desert storm the sand-bender whipped up when it fell to the beach. He was small, but his limbs were strong. He clung to you easily, arms and legs locked tight around you. He already knew what to do, without being told, and when you pierced the protective wall the glass put up, he snatched the pillow.

He pressed his hands to your cheeks and mimed your mouth making movements, shouting to the others that you were going to be staying here. And of course, you were.

You were in and out after that, watching over him. You showed him one of her special places, where she stored things she didn't store inside him. You gave him her sword, watched as he and the other little one defeated one of her old training machines with their wit and ingenuity.

He was going to do great things. Just like her.

You'd say that he was going to _be_ great, just like her, but that wouldn't be right.

He already _was_ great.

You thought he'd be done with you for the day after you showed him what he needed to know and gave him back what was now rightfully his, but no. He beckoned you in to watch the moving pictures story with him. He even got you your own glasses.

You loved him in an instant.

_My cub._


End file.
